Where the Lines Overlap
by KennyEchelon
Summary: AU: School fanfic. What happens when Rukia develops feelings for one of her teachers? Even worse... he's taken.  ByaRuki. Don't like; don't read. Please review!
1. Chapter 1

**Where the Lines Overlap**

ByaRuki 1

There he was, sat in the library and absent-mindedly perusing a collection of Shakespeare's sonnets. She caught her breath; his quiet presence was overpowering, almost unbearable. Ducking behind the nearest bookcase, she breathed a sigh of relief and felt grateful for the bookcase's ability to completely conceal her small figure.

She couldn't face him; he was Byakuya Kuchiki- one of the most important and influential men in the school, head of English and leader of the Poetry club; members of which usually turned out to be insanely successful. He also happened to be her teacher.

Her name was Rukia and having been abandoned in childhood, had no last name. Because of this, she decided to take the name of where she grew up as her surname, so all of her official documents read Rukia Inuzuri.

To say she was scared of Mr. Kuchiki was an understatement. His presence was so overbearing that she often merely got on with the work without making a sound. "Maybe that was his way of controlling the class?" she often wondered. Not surprising, seeing as she shared a class with both Renji and Ichigo, her closest friends who (although they were great people outside of the classroom) didn't usually pay attention and had no motivation to study what they called "mushy, lovey-dovey poetry crap."

It wasn't that she disliked English; she really enjoyed it. Rukia loved the intricate art of writing, the way words flowed off her pen and onto the page. Of course, most of her writing was done on the computer now, but in lessons she was stuck with paper and pen.

Not wanting to look like a complete stalker she pretended to examine a book titled "Human Adaptations Through Time", opened on a random page with the heading 'Ramapithecines... Human or not?'

She kept glancing upward through the rows of alphabetised books, peering through at the mysterious man reading Shakespeare. His face had a serious expression on it, his eyes glazed as if he was lost in the pages of his book. He reclined gently on the back of his chair, his leg crossed over the other and his elbow resting on the arm of the chair. Mr Kuchiki always looked so calm but he never had to raise his voice; everyone knew if they put even a toe out of line, the consequences were too horrific for words. Mr Kuchiki meant business.

A strand of his long black hair managed to stray from behind his ear and fell softly in front of his eyes and obstructing his view. He brushed it back gracefully and returned to reading.

Breaking Rukia out of her thoughts the bell rang, making everyone in the surrounding area head unwillingly to their next lesson. Checking her timetable, she looked at which lesson she had next.

"Oh shit" she said "English."


	2. Chapter 2

ByaRuki 2

Rukia walked quickly to her lesson. She didn't want to be late after all, and the penalty for not achieving perfect punctuality wasn't worth the risk.

She weaved her way in between students who were all at least a foot taller than her. Her small size made it easy to meander through the crowd but it was dangerous; she was so tiny that she could be knocked over at any moment. The English Department was in sight and Rukia hurried towards the door.

She entered room 1-06 and sat down in her seat at the back of the class. In all of her other classes she always took the front seat but Mr. Kuchiki intimidated her too much to sit there in English. She got out her books and pens, the pen Renji got her for her birthday pride of place. Speaking of Renji, where was he?

Rukia glanced around the classroom- the lesson was due to start anytime now. What would happen if Renji was late...? Rukia shuddered at the thought.

Byakuya Kuchiki glided through the door, a commanding air about him. His face didn't show any emotion, apart from his eyes which screamed authority, as if one false move would spell detention. The class, who were talking amongst themselves, sharing the latest gossip or discussing the hair of a popular singer, fell silent. Everyone slipped silently into their seats.

Mr. Kuchiki cleared his throat and wrote the title on the board. Turning around, his eyes skimmed the room. An eyebrow rose as he saw the empty chair then returned to teaching. Opening his mouth he said: "Today we will be st-"

He was cut off by Renji crashing through the door, panting and red faced. Byakuya met his eyes and announced: "Mr. Abarai... you are late."

Renji stammered. "U-um, a-about that... s-sir" he stuttered. Rukia felt complete sympathy towards her best friend; he was ultimately done for. She didn't want to watch, but Mr. Kuchiki's presence drew her eyes towards them. She chewed nervously on her thumbnail, looking on as Renji tried to back away.

"You know what the penalty is for lateness, don't you?" said Byakuya calmly. "You don't scare me!" boasted Renji defiantly; gaining a slight boost in confidence, but his face still looked terrified. "I can see that" Mr. Kuchiki said sarcastically. "Don't be an idiot Renji" Rukia muttered under her breath "You're only digging yourself a hole." She swallowed. Renji was too reckless; he was going to get in serious trouble if he didn't shut up soon.

"You'll see me after school and we will discuss your lack of respect to authority and the regulations of this establishment." Byakuya stated. His voice demanded obedience- fulfilling his wishes was compulsory.

Renji slumped into his chair, dumping his bag down and getting his things out. The expression on his face reminded Rukia of a naughty puppy who'd had his treats taken away.

"As I was saying, today we will be starting our Shakespeare module" said Mr. Kuchiki, acting as if nothing had happened. "For this part of the course we will be working with the Drama department." Rukia raised an eyebrow. Well, this was going to be fun... not. It was one of the schools worst kept secrets that Mr. Kuchiki was interested in the young, pretty Drama teacher. She didn't like the students addressing her with a title (she thought it was too old-fashioned) so everyone knew her as Hisana.

Rukia liked Hisana, but sometimes they really didn't see eye to eye, particularly when it involved Byakuya. Rukia was never too sure where she stood with her Drama teacher; sometimes Hisana praised her and was encouraging but other times she was shouted at. Sometimes Hisana could be too pushy.

Mr. Kuchiki turned towards the board and wrote a few words. As he did so, he announced "This lesson we will be analysing one of Shakespeare's many sonnets." The class groaned in unison; to them poetry was NOT interesting. Byakuya turned around sharply and silence fell.

"Right then," he said "let's begin..."


	3. Chapter 3

ByaRuki 3

_**Author's note:**__ Some people have been asking if they have seen this 'fic before. I had posted this on my best friend's account (Byakuya-Renji) before I had my own account. Now I am posting it here as my own fanfiction. I hope you enjoy this!_

Rukia could hear Renji tapping his pen idly on the spine of his notebook. She nearly hissed at him to pay attention and stop making noise but Byakuya's keen eyes roamed the class again, briefly resting  
>on Rukia for a second before returning to his book.<p>

The class were supposed to be analysing the first stanza individually before engaging in a class discussion but obviously Renji thought he had better things to do. It annoyed Rukia. She wanted to go one English lesson without worrying about him.

Her eyes focused on the first line, trying desperately to concentrate despite the sound of Renji's pen breaking the uncomfortable silence. She picked up her own pen, the one that had been a gift from her old friend. It was nothing too fancy, after all the two of them grew up with practically nothing, but it wrote well and glided almost effortlessly off the page. It wasn't as extravagant as Mr. Kuchiki's  
>pens, which transformed Byakuya's tidy handwriting into calligraphy; so beautiful it was almost art.<p>

However, it did its job and it was the thought that counted. For Renji, this was considerate.

Rukia scribbled down a few notes and glanced over at Ichigo, who was sat directly in front of Renji. He was another one who needed to pay attention. Somewhere he'd picked up a bad habit of swinging on the back two legs of his chair and was gently bumping into Renji's desk, distracting the redhead even more.

Rukia sighed and tried to tune out the distractions. With effort, she managed to analyse the stanza in sufficient detail before Mr. Kuchiki cleared his throat to gain the class' attention. Ichigo fell onto the front legs of his chair with a slight thud, Renji's pen froze in mid-air and the whole class looked up in silence.

Mr. Kuchiki's eyes moved from student to student, picking out a worthy candidate to read the piece aloud. Most of the class, shuffled further under their desks as if hiding, not wanting to be chosen. "Miss Inoue, please read the first stanza to the class" he said, finally and Orihime stood up. She was smiling, a bit too chirpy for before lunch, too chirpy even for school. It was this bubbly nature that encouraged people to make fun of her and Rukia wished she'd tone it down for her own good.

She opened her mouth and recited:

_From off a hill whose concave womb re-worded_

_A plaintful story from a sistering vale,_

_My spirits to attend this double voice accorded,_

_And down I laid to list the sad-tuned tale; _

_Ere long espied a fickle maid full pale,_

_Tearing of papers, breaking rings a-twain,_

_Storming her world with sorrow's wind and rain._

Rukia was half paying attention to Orihime's performance, and half paying attention to Ichigo's facial expression. His eyes had been instantly attracted to her as soon as she stood up; her skirt was slightly shorter than was advisable and sitting directly behind her, he'd gotten a good view. Throughout her speech, the strawberry's face became redder and redder until at the very end he looked as if he was about to suffer a quite serious nosebleed.

Orihime sat down and Rukia passed a tissue to Ichigo, muttering "You might need this" raising an eyebrow. "Ahem" coughed Byakuya "Seeing as you see fit to talk in my lesson, Miss Inuzuri, you can explain to the class what that meant."

Rukia froze. Mr. Kuchiki was making _her_ talk aloud to the class. She _never _contributed to class discussions. She _always_ kept to herself.

Her voice shaking, Rukia began to explain her analysis to the class. "Um... It basically means th-that... that the girl described in this sonnet is heartbroken, because she is tearing up papers that are highly likely to be love letters. She is really upset, probably due to the relationship breaking down, maybe due to the man leading her on."

Byakuya looked interested. "Hmmm, a decent analysis, one might even say it was good" he said thoughtfully. Rukia went red, her pale skin colouring quickly.

Byakuya noticed the rapid colour change on Rukia's face and wondered if he was embarrassing her. Was it the best idea to pick her to read out her ideas? Of course it was, she needed to come out of her shell at some point. Besides, her blush looked cute.

"_Cute_? What the hell?" Byakuya thought, angry at himself. He shouldn't think thoughts like that.

He blinked twice and carried on with the lesson. "Right, now let's look at the second stanza" Mr. Kuchiki announced "and Abarai, you're reading next."


	4. Chapter 4

ByaRuki 4

Finally, the bell rang signalling the start of lunch. "Thank god" whispered Rukia; the atmosphere in that room had become more tense after she had spoken aloud. She could sense Byakuya looking at her and it made her uncomfortable, even nervous.

The whole class packed up hurriedly, desperate to start eating and/or socialising. Rukia shoved everything semi-neatly into her bag and quickly marched out of the room. Byakuya watched her leave, his eyes fixated on her soft black hair whip behind her, a strange feeling welling up inside his chest.

He shook his head, attempting to return to normality. He looked toward the door once more only to see Renji trying to sneak out. "Ahem, Mr. Abarai. I want a word with you" said Byakuya seriously.

Rukia found her way to her locker, a fairly simple task seeing as it was only around the corner. She unlocked it and stuffed her bag inside, but not before she'd taken her lunch out. She shut the door to reveal the face of an all too familiar strawberry blonde haired _bitch_. It was Rangiku Matsumoto; the alpha female of the school. She had practically everyone in it wrapped around her little finger, either out of lust or fear. Either way, she got what she wanted.

"Sooo" she sang, her sweet exterior hiding her bitter intentions "I heard you got all googly eyed at Kuya-sensei. You like him or something?" Rukia glared. Matsumoto always had pet names for people, even the teachers and it made her sick. However that wasn't the only reason why her eyes  
>were narrowed.<p>

"Awww ickle Wookia got an ickle crush on Kuya!" giggled Rangiku " Don't worry, I won't tell anyone...yet." She finished the sentence with a sickly sweet and completely fake smile. "Bye bye" said Matsumoto in a sing-song voice, and she turned around, flipping her long hair behind her and strutted away.

Rukia folded her arms. "Ugh, bitch" she thought angrily.

When she entered the cafeteria, she instantly spotted Ichigo and Orihime from their bright coloured hair. Noticing her, they waved and she made her way over to the table and sat down. "Renji still with Mr. Kuchiki?" she asked, taking note of her friend's absence. Ichigo nodded and grunted in response which Rukia had learned long ago to take as a 'yes'. She looked over the table and saw Hisagi and Kira who were busy checking out the girls on the next table. "Uh, guys? Hello?" said Rukia.

"Oh hey Rukia! We didn't see you get here" they replied, dragging their eyes away from the girls for long enough to acknowledge the presence of their friend. Shuuhei frowned and said: "Where's Renji? He was in English with you wasn't he?"

Rukia sighed. "He got held back by Mr. Kuchiki 'cause he was late" she responded. Kira gulped. The door to the cafeteria swung open to reveal the redhead. Hisagi grinned and called: "Speak of the devil, Abarai!" Renji smiled back and weaved his way between the tables over to them. Rukia  
>hugged him, her small arms barely reaching around his waist. Pulling apart, Rukia looked into Renji's face and her eyes narrowed into a frown. She pulled her arm back and slapped his face with force,<br>leaving a deep pink handprint on his cheek.  
>"What was that for?" he yelled, rubbing where she'd hit him. "You made me worry about you. Why were you late?" Rukia screamed back.<p>

Renji looked embarassed. "Um, well..." he said bashfully. "Spit it out Renji!" said Rukia, her voice stern. "Well I kind of got abducted by Rangiku on the way to class. She said something about being quick and the girl's bathroom" he admitted. Rukia facepalmed. "You didn't, did you?" she groaned.

"No, if I did I'd be even later and besides I wouldn't in school... what do you take me for?" Renji replied. Rukia sighed and shook her head. Honestly, there was no hope for him.

Renji looked around. "Is Chad still sick?" he said when he saw that he wasn't there. Ichigo nodded. "I don't know what's up. He doesn't usually get sick; he's like a rock" said the strawberry. "I warned him not to get on the wrong side of Rangiku, he's probably going to be bed-ridden for the rest of the week. I heard she can almost guarantee food-poisoning" Kira whispered, as if he was afraid that she could hear him.

Rukia met the blond's eyes. At least one of the male student body wasn't under Matsumoto's spell, even if it was because it was rumoured that he was secretly gay. Rukia doubted it; he was probably bisexual because even though she'd caught him staring at Hisagi a few times, he was still interested in girls.

Rukia opened her lunchbox which contained riceballs and a skewer of dango. "Have you still got that Chappy lunchbox? You've had that for years!" Renji said, taking the piss out of his best friend. Rukia  
>glared and retorted: "Shut up Renji. It's vintage okay? Anyway, if you insult Chappy again you're going to get another slap."<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

ByaRuki 5

After lunch, Rukia headed to her next lesson quickly. She passed Rangiku's locker which was blocked from sight by the wall of her followers. In the middle of the crowd stood the bitch herself, who was flanked by two smaller people.

The first, Hinamori Momo, only used Rangiku as protection because she was an easy target. Besides, there'd been a nasty rumour about her a few months ago, but because Matsumoto took her  
>under her wing no-one made a big deal out of it.<p>

The second was Toshiro Hitsugaya, the young genius who had moved up a year because of  
>outstanding grades; he'd been able to take his exams earlier. People said that Rangiku was paying him to 'help out' with her homework, although she wasn't paying him with money. She gave him social status and if the lovebites on his neck were anything to go by, he was getting rewarded in other ways as well.<p>

Rukia stuck her head down and rushed to class. She was in such a hurry that she nearly bumped into the blind music teacher, Kaname Tousen. Luckily his guide dog, Komamura, managed to lead him out of the way.

Rukia apologised briefly before continuing her journey to Biology. It was one of her least favourite lessons but she knew it was neccessary to have at least one Science subject to have a well-rounded university application. She slipped inside the lesson, praying that the teacher wasn't in. He was almost as scary as Mr. Kuchiki, albeit for different reasons.

"Damn" Rukia muttered as an all too familiar cackle drifted through the doorway. "Listen up you simpletons, today we're doing dissection. For those imbeciles who don't know what that is it's cutting stuff up" said Mayuri Kurotsuchi, speaking very slowly as if they were all idiots. Although she tried not to, Rukia found herself thinking: "I'd like to dissect your face."

Shocked at her lack of respect, she gazed blankly at the board, trying hard not to show that she'd wanted to cut up the disgusting painted face of Mr. Kurotsuchi. It wasn't until a dead frog was dumped in front of her that she broke her line of vision. A disgusted look spread across her face. Just... ew.

"Today we're looking at the lungs, those are the two spongy bits in the chest" said Kurotsuchi, as if the class didn't know what they were. Rukia sighed. That man completely ignored the fact that they had all had nearly 18 years of life experience, about 13 of them in education. He treated them all like they were born yesterday and it pissed her off.

She listened to him recite the dissection procedure like he had many times before while she collected her lab coat, safety glasses, gloves and scalpel. Renji was on the other side of the classroom, jiggling the frog to make it dance, grinning widely at Rukia. Rukia rolled her eyes at him but the corner of her mouth turned upward despite trying to keep a straight face.

She scraped her hair back and set to work, making the first incision with accurate precision. The dissection took up the entire lesson, and after washing her scalpel and putting back her equipment she was glad to leave the lesson.

"Ugh, if I have to cut one more thing up…" Rukia grumbled. "I don't know" replied Renji "I thought it was kinda fun." "You would, you were on a table with Ikkaku and you guys never pay attention. You were just slicing that thing up into frog salad" she said, disapproving at her friend's lack of commitment.

It wasn't always this way, he used to love school. Then he hit high school and the teasing started. They hated his red hair, his intricate tattoos and his attitude. But the thing that pushed him over the edge was when they started bullying him for being an orphan.

"Go cry to your mommy!" they'd taunt "Oh wait, you don't have one!"

Rukia clenched her teeth remembering. She hadn't had the teasing because she kept her head down and kept herself out of the spotlight. Even so, she got angry when people mocked Renji for being in exactly the same situation as she was. She'd wanted to help him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Renji had told her not to interfere and as much as she would have loved to do _something_, she kept her mouth shut.

She felt guilty.

"You ok, Rukia?" asked Renji, snapping her out of her thoughts "You seem very quiet." She cleared her throat and replied: "Yeah I just feel a bit sick that's all… I hate frogs."


	6. Chapter 6

_**Author's note:**__ This is a really short update that isn't that good, seeing as I have exams at the moment. Hopefully I'll still be able to write but please expect some sort of a wait before the next chapter is published. My exams should be finished in under a month so I can write more freely then. Hope you like this anyway and thanks for your patience and the fact that you're actually taking the time to read my fanfic ~ __**KennyEchelon.**_

**ByaRuki 6**

A week later, Renji, Kira, Hisagi and Rukia were sat on the drama studio floor, trying to figure out how to devise the piece of improvisation they had to do. Rukia knew that Kira was willing to pay attention but it was the other two she was worried about.

She noticed them talking amongst themselves when she was trying to work and turning around to face them, she snapped: "Oh come on guys! What are you, female? God, you gossip like girls!" That shut them up.

They decided to join in, if only to keep Rukia quiet. Their masculine pride couldn't take another blow like that in public.

"Okay, Kira, could you go over there please?" she asked, pointing to her right "Renji, over there." They obeyed. "Okay, now Hisagi, I want you to walk over to Renji. Oh, and act angry."

"Can I slap him?" requested the brunette cheerily. Rukia sighed. "If you must. I don't suppose there's any harm, as long as it's fake. I don't want anyone getting sent to the medical room." Renji snorted. "As if he could ever hurt me" he laughed. "You're not the one I'm talking about" replied Rukia.

Renji smirked and Hisagi grew redder. Whether it was out of anger or embarrassment, Rukia couldn't tell. She glanced around the room and saw the Hisana was talking to another group of students in the opposite corner. "As long as she doesn't come over here while they're messing around we're fine" she thought.

Rangiku was reclining on a piece of scenery, over-dramatising a yawn so all of the boys in the room could catch a better view of her ample chest. She sighed audibly and started to speak. "I'm so _bored_" she complained loudly, not hiding the fact that she obviously wasn't concentrating on the task "I wish I could find _something_ to entertain me."

Within practically no time at all, the males of the class were surrounding her like eager puppies, desperate for her attention. Most of the girls accepted it and carried on with their improvisations but Rukia flashed a dark look at Renji, Kira and Hisagi.

"Don't you dare" she hissed "Stay here."

Hisagi, who had already started to leave the group, skulked back to Rukia, his tail between his legs. "What's _your_ problem?" asked Renji mockingly. "Honestly, you don't wanna get mixed up with her. Look at how pathetic those other guys look. Seriously. Besides, I don't want Hisana to have any more reason to dislike me. She hates me enough as it is. Can we just go back to the task, please?" said Rukia.

"You worry too much" said Renji, smiling "She doesn't _hate_ you." "Oh really?" Rukia replied, her eyebrow shooting up into her bangs. "Give me one time when she's hated you" Renji crossed his arms confidently.

"Um, I don't know" exclaimed Rukia, feigning puzzlement "Maybe the time when she put me in detention for forgetting my script that one time. Maybe it was that time when she failed me because I wasn't feeling well on the day of the performance even though I still went onstage."

"Come on, we both agreed that wasn't your best performance. I mean you did vomit everywhere after the curtains closed" sighed Renji "Took the cleaners forever to get it all off."

"Don't remind me." She looked pained just remembering it.

"You kids alright over here?" asked a sweet voice over Rukia's shoulder. The young girl turned around to face Hisana who had randomly appeared there in the last few seconds. It was creepy how teachers seemed to magically appear out of nowhere like that.

"Yeah we're fine" smiled Rukia, masking the fact that she was slightly unnerved. Hisana's question was met with grunts of confirmation from the guys and after checking they were working, she left to supervise another group.

"Speak of the devil" said Hisagi, a small smirk on his face. Kira suppressed nervous laughter as Rukia let out a large breath. She ran a hand through her hair and made eye contact with Renji.

She looked at the others and said: "That was too close for comfort. Come on, please let's finish the task…"


End file.
